Hi Sugar,
The OEM editions of MS Office are tied to the original machine. You should have received an Office 2003 CD from the PC supplier
with your software (unless you converted a trial copy to a fully licensed one). Some suppliers unfortunately only provide the 'CDs'
for the preinstalled software in images that use a 'one time' application to extract and burn to CD/DVD.
If you have the CDs you should be fine to reinstall and reactivate on the same machine and you can use the telephone activation
method if you have difficulty with the online version.
Backup all of your files, of course, before leveling your hard drive's data content. Be sure you have and have checked each CD for
each product you want to reinstall ahead of time on the CD drive that is in that machine. (May not hurt to download the latest
drivers for particular drive, especially OEMs, as you may not have the latest ones if you 'start over'.
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I need to reformat my HD. On it is installed Office SBE 2003 OEM version. I
am concerned I may not be to validate after reformat and re-install.
Is this a legitimate concern? If so, what should I do before reformat? >>
--
Bob Buckland ?

MS Office System Products MVP
*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*